


Derek Should Have Known Better

by morrezela



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alpha Derek, Alternate Universe, Christmas, M/M, Perfume
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 18:19:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2742380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura convinces Derek to volunteer to play Santa for a charity fundraiser. He gets demoted to play a reindeer that isn't Rudolf, meets a guy that can't stop talking and gets a makeup artist who wears a shade of lipstick that haunts his dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Derek Should Have Known Better

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BrightsideIsMyMiddleName](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightsideIsMyMiddleName/gifts).



> A/N: This was written for dereksshale/BrightsideIsMyMiddleName for the 2014 .
> 
> Many thanks to my beta tipsy-kitty who saved me from a minefield of typos.
> 
> Any mistakes you find are my own.

Nobody ever thought that Derek was going to be the alpha. Laura had all the traits for it. Laura was older. Laura had the training.

 

That was the excuse Derek clung to whenever Laura talked him into doing something. From an early age he had been taught to follow after Laura. Even after he became the alpha instead of her, she had still been his legal guardian. The law had compelled him to listen to her.

 

Allowing Laura to sway him into things was how Derek ended up standing in a changing room, staring down at a brown, fake fur costume with a red jingle bell harness. The original plan had been that he would play a fit and healthy version of Santa. But apparently a guy could get fired even when just volunteering for something.

 

Derek had been told he wasn’t jolly enough to play Santa. As far as he was concerned, they could go stuff their production in Santa’s coal bin. He would have walked out, but Laura would give him that _look_ and possibly a lecture about doing good or meeting people or the benefits of not becoming a hermit.

 

Derek didn’t want to suffer through that, so when they mentioned that he was the right height to play one of the reindeer, he agreed. The only consolation for him was that he no longer had to go shirtless to show off “Santa’s Ripped Abs of Healthiness.”

 

“Hey! Blitzen!”

 

Derek turned to scowl at the overly chipper voice calling out to him. The man ambling over his way was about Derek’s height. He was already wearing a reindeer bodysuit, had makeup on his face and was carrying a pair of fake reindeer antlers in his right hand. Derek’s brain did not have to strain itself to conclude that the man approaching him was going to be his harness mate.

 

Before Derek could deepen his scowl and inform the other reindeer that his name was Derek and not Blitzen, the guy started talking.

 

“Hey, I’m Donner. The guy or reindeer, I guess, who is going to be standing next to you for the next few weeks. I was totally supposed to be Rudolf, but I got relegated to understudy. Which is a bummer because I think I’d make a great Rudolf, you know?” Donner looked straight at Derek with an annoyed glare.

 

His eyes were brown and round, so Derek supposed that they were very deer like. Derek almost opened his mouth to say so, but stopped himself because that sort of comment could be construed as rude. Laura had made him promise not to be rude to people because it wouldn’t, _“… spread the Christmas spirit. Derek! Are you listening to me?_ ”

 

Doe eyes started speaking again, “I suppose that Rudolph isn’t all that anyway. I mean, the flashing red nose that they put on you has got to start to cause eye strain after a while. Why is it flashing anyway? Nothing in the song says that the nose flashes, only glows.”

 

“Artistic interpretation,” Derek grunted.

 

Mile-a-minute-mouth blinked at him. “I suppose you’re right. It’s still annoying though. Maybe I can channel that into my performance. Did you know that my name was originally ‘Dunder’? Then it was changed to Donder and then somehow to Donner.”

 

“You’re going to play a pissed off reindeer?” Derek didn’t bother hiding the skepticism from his voice.

 

“It’s ‘artistic interpretation,’” the man quoted back to him with air quotes.

 

“I…”

 

“You should try it,” the guy interrupted, “you don’t have your original name either.”

 

Derek arched a single, disbelieving eyebrow. Those pretty brown eyes rolled back at him in response.

“I’m Derek. I’ve always been Derek,” Derek introduced himself with a smirk.

 

“Oh my god,” Derek’s companion said with a flail of his arms. He stalked away, and Derek tried not to feel smug.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“How was it?” Laura predictably asked as soon as he arrived home.

 

“Fine,” Derek grunted. “I don’t know why we needed a dress rehearsal. It’s not like we have any lines.”

 

Laura’s eyes narrowed. “Santa has lines.”

 

“‘Ho ho ho,’ is not a line,” Derek argued, carefully not making eye contact with his sister.

 

“You didn’t go,” Laura accused.

 

“I did go,” Derek told her truthfully.

 

“You got yourself fired?” she guessed.

 

“You can’t get fired from a volunteer effort, Laura. It’s not a job.”

 

“You got fired,” Laura stated with the confidence that Derek swore only first born children could have.

 

“I didn’t get fired,” Derek huffed. “I was reassigned. I wasn’t jolly.”

 

“Imagine that,” Laura drawled sarcastically.

 

“I’m playing a reindeer,” Derek informed her. “It’s a very important part.”

 

“Are you playing Rudolph?” she asked.

 

“No, but…”

 

“Then it isn’t an important part,” Laura told him with a smile on her lips.

 

Derek ignored her. He did not stomp off to his room because that wouldn’t be befitting of an alpha. But he did eat the last of her Pop Tarts because that was completely befitting of a little brother.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Hey, Blixem!” Donner cheered out when Derek bolted through the doors to the dressing room.

 

“Derek,” Derek corrected him as he started pulling his shoes off. The subway had been delayed. Derek had thought about just not showing up, but part of being an alpha was being responsible. Responsible people lived up to their commitments.

 

“I’m glad you made it. If you hadn’t, they were going to sub in Jackson.” Donner’s body shivered in an exaggerated manner at the name. The sleigh bells on his harness jingled with the motion.

 

“Don’t get along,” Derek stated more than asked.

 

“Jackson has been a pain in my ass since elementary school,” Donner told him.

 

Derek glanced over at him. It didn’t take werewolf hearing to notice that Donner didn’t sport a New York accent. If anything, Donner’s voice was distinctly Californian in nature. “He followed you to New York? Are you sure he’s not stalking you? Or you’re not stalking him?”

 

Donner’s eyebrows rose. “I think that is the longest sentence you’ve ever said to me.”

 

“I’ve only met you once,” Derek reminded him.

 

“Details,” Donner dismissed with a wave of his hand. “And no, neither of us followed the other. I am going to SUNY because I’m awesome. Jackson is going there because he got kicked out of his fancy private school.”

 

Derek did not want to know, but he needed to practice his social skills. Laura insisted on it, and he knew deep down that she was right. He needed to grow their pack, and he needed to be a good leader. Neither of those things leant themselves to crabby hermitage.

 

“Is Jackson majoring in theater too?” That sounded polite, right?

 

Donner’s face turned into a frown. “I’m not a theater major.”

 

“You’re not?”

 

“Dude, no. Why would you think that?”

 

Derek tried to hold his tongue, but his incredulous, “You came up with an emotional backstory for your costumed character that has no lines,” came out anyway.

 

“Way to judge. For your information, I’m majoring in engineering with a minor in philosophy,” Donner told him primly.

 

Derek felt his face crumple in confusion. “Those don’t…”

 

“Go together? So I’ve been told. Multiple times by my guidance counsellor who swears I’m throwing away money. And my best friend. And my high school economics teacher. And …”

 

“I think I’ve got the picture,” Derek interrupted.

 

Donner smiled at him. “Oh, hey, I pulled some strings so you get Erica for your makeup. She’s the best. And frightening, very frightening.”

 

Derek snorted. “I’m sure I can handle her.”

 

“Man, you’d think that with your general, you know, ‘Grrrrr!’ demeanor,” Donner made what Derek thought were supposed to be fangs with his fingers. “But I dated Erica for like a week in high school, and that whole mousy librarian thing she has going on? Totally an act. She’s a man-eater.”

 

Derek rolled his eyes as he zipped up his suit. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He did his best to discreetly tug the plush brown material down from where it had bunched up around his ass. The way that Donner cuts his eyes away when Derek starts moving towards the door says he was unsuccessful.

 

“Your funeral dude,” Donner said to Derek’s retreating back.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erica was not as bad as Donner made her out to be. She seemed feisty and had an odd fascination with garishly red lipstick, but she didn’t stare at Derek or hit on him. There was also no inappropriate groping of his hair, which Derek appreciated on a cellular level.

 

“So I said to Stiles that he could at least help a girl out,” Erica babbled as she painted Derek’s nose to be more ‘reindeer-y.’ There was a pause in her words, which Derek assumed was his cue to join the conversation that he had been ignoring.

 

“Stiles?” he asked, hoping that he wouldn’t have to comment on the subject she’d actually been speaking about.

 

“Yeah… Stiles? Your harness partner?” Erica’s tone suggested that she thought Derek was a bit dim.

 

“He didn’t tell me his actual name,” Derek grunted defensively.

 

Erica rolled her eyes and started working on Derek’s cheeks, giving them a rosy glow that wasn’t found in nature. “Nobody knows Stiles’s actual name.”

 

“He told me he was Donner,” Derek corrected her.

 

“Well he was probably distracted,” Erica dismissed.

 

“By what, the shiny tinsel?” Derek scoffed.

 

“Your scowling face and nice ass,” Erica told him. “Stiles has a thing for unattainable snobs.”

 

Derek clenched his teeth. “I’m not…”

 

“Oh, you so are,” Erica told him. “Now quit clenching, you’re messing up my lines.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Laura did not show up for Derek’s ‘performance.’ He was completely fine with that as he had no desire for her to have more blackmail material on him than she already had. But it was boring standing in a line, posing in preapproved formations for optimal ‘reindeer attitude.’

 

Not for the first time, Derek wished that he could have just donated money to the Health Research Foundation instead of participating in their Christmas fundraising efforts. He wished he was more persuasive or unethical enough to use his alpha powers to get his sister to back down. Unfortunately, he was neither of those things.

 

“That was tougher than I thought,” Donner, no _Stiles_ , said when they finally finished their shift. “I’ve been wanting to scratch my butt for at least an hour.”

 

“It wasn’t so bad,” Derek lied.

 

“Sure, you totally didn’t look like you wanted to murder that kid that came up and smacked her lollipop on your face,” Stiles laughed.

 

“Only because I knew what Erica was going to say about her ‘art’ being ruined,” Derek defended himself.

 

Stiles looked like he didn’t believe a word coming out of Derek’s mouth. Which, to be fair, he shouldn’t. Derek dared anybody to be happy after getting spit-sticky sugar smeared on his face by a screaming child.

 

“Whatever, I’ll see you on Friday,” Stiles said as he shrugged on his jacket over a ridiculous plaid shirt and graphic tee combination. He still had all of his reindeer makeup on his face.

 

“Aren’t you going to wash that off?” Derek said, pointing at Stiles’s face.

 

“Nah, it’s New York. Some drunk people might mistake me as an extra from _Cats_ and ask me to pose with them.” Stiles explained as he left.

 

Derek looked at the ceiling and counted the days until he could be free.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The thing about Derek’s actual job was that it made him more judgmental than he was naturally. A sniff of a person let him know the brand of deodorant, perfume or cologne that they preferred. Not only could he catch the stench of Axe a few blocks away, he could tell the particular variety of the offending brand.

 

Being a professional scent tester did not pay the highest of salaries, but it wasn’t like Derek needed the money. The Hales had been rich for generations before he was born. He only took work in the first place so that he didn’t spend all his time at home.

 

Ostensibly, he was supposed to be out and about looking for pack members. He had promised Laura that he would. And he was going to… someday at least. He just needed to find the right people. Until then, he’d keep going out into the world in failed attempts to be sociable.

 

What didn’t help was that sometimes Derek ran into people who were just plain unlikeable. People like the smug blonde waiting for him in the dressing room wearing the Donner costume. He reeked of Silver Dollar, and looked like he thought Derek was the scum of the earth.

 

“Where’s Stiles?” Derek asked.

 

“Not here,” the other man answered. “They called me in to sub. If you’re lucky, I’ll be replacing him.”

 

“I wouldn’t call it luck with the way you smell,” Derek told him.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Derek gave him a cold smile. “You smell like shit,” he said as he pushed past the man into Erica’s makeshift makeup room.

 

“You look cranky,” Erica observed.

 

Derek glanced over at her. “Who is the jackass in the dressing room? And where the hell is Stiles?”

 

“Stiles has the flu. His lovely replacement is Jackson,” Erica told him.

 

“He could use an attitude adjustment,” Derek grumbled.

 

Erica laughed. “You should’ve seen him in high school. He was actually worse before he realized that he wasn’t the prettiest and most athletic boy to ever play lacrosse.”

 

“Doesn’t look like he learned his lesson,” Derek replied.

 

“Like I said, he was actually worse. Back then he would never have done this for charity.”

 

“And I’m supposed to believe he’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart now?” Derek asked.

 

Erica smiled. “No. I think that he’s doing it to try to impress his ex or possibly for the publicity. He’s still trying to be a model.”  
  


 

Derek frowned. “He thinks playing a reindeer is going to help his modelling portfolio?”

 

“No, he thinks it will make him look easier to work with if he’s charitable,” Erica corrected. “There, done. Go out there and at least try to look happy.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Derek took slow steps as he walked into the building. He could still hear the echoes of Jackson’s bragging in his ears. If he caught the slightest whiff of Silver Dollar, he was going to run away and call in sick. If he was forced to have any more interaction with Jackson, he might bite the man. And then where would Derek be? Stuck with Jackson forever.

 

“Miss me?” Stiles’s voice came from behind Derek.

 

“I’m just glad you’re not Jackson,” Derek said as he started walking more quickly now that he knew Jackson wasn’t waiting for him in the dressing room.

 

“I feel the love,” Stiles retorted as he tripped to catch up to Derek’s strides. “Seriously, disliking Jackson shows your excellent taste in people.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“Yep,” Stiles agreed, bouncing on his feet. “You like me, don’t you?”

 

“No,” Derek told him as he opened the door to the dressing room.

 

“Lies!” Stiles accused as he pushed past Derek to get to his locker. “Erica said that you missed me.”

 

“I was stuck with Jackson,” Derek reminded him. “Anybody would’ve been an improvement.”

 

“You don’t mean that,” Stiles said.

 

“Yes, yes I do,” Derek replied.

 

“Okay, yeah you mean it, who wouldn’t? Nobody wants to hang with Jackson. But you still missed me. Like me, me – not generic me who could be anybody.”

 

Derek gaped for a moment. “I have no idea what you just said.”

 

“I get that a lot,” Stiles admitted with a tiny grin. “Anyway, I was thinking…”

 

“One of you better be ready for makeup!” Erica called through the door. “If you’re not, I’m coming in there, naked boy parts or no!”

 

“Nothing you haven’t seen before!” Stiles yelled back as he struggled into his costume.

 

“And nothing that impressive either,” Erica shouted.

 

Stiles’s face paled. “That’s not true!” He turned to look at Derek. “Not true, that’s…. ERICA! THAT IS NOT TRUE!”

 

“I’ll go first,” Derek offered as he finished zipping up his costume. “You just sit there and feel big.”

 

“Funny, real funny,” Stiles groused under his breath. Derek didn’t think he was supposed to hear him, so he didn’t reply.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A week later, Derek was slogging through the slushy streets of New York, cursing his decision to walk. Water was starting to seep through his supposedly waterproof boots, and people kept walking into him like the snow had addled their brains. It was a horrible day and not even the thought that he was halfway through his volunteer days could buoy his spirits.

 

It wasn’t a surprise that he was the first one to the dressing room that day. Stiles had taken to showing up later now that he had finished his finals for the semester. He apparently was on a “Christmas Break Gaming Bender” with his friend Scott who was going to veterinary school in California.

 

Derek would’ve asked more questions, but he was a diehard Neopets addict. He knew enough to know that Neopets was hardly a respected site amongst gamers who liked to shoot up aliens and cast spells on trolls or whatever it was that people like Stiles liked to do.

 

Asking questions of Stiles would’ve naturally led to Stiles asking him what games he liked. It would’ve been a disaster, so Derek avoided that line of conversation. If Derek wanted to be mocked, he would talk to his sister.

 

Without Stiles around to distract him, Derek found himself getting his costume on quicker. He wasn’t sure he wanted to think about what that meant. Certainly Stiles’s chatter could be diverting, but it shouldn’t cause him to have issues with changing his clothing. It wasn’t that hard of work.

 

Part of Derek was worried that he was, perhaps, becoming a bit attached to Stiles. That was unwise. Stiles was a college student. He was going to finish his degree and go back to California to have a life. He wasn’t going to hang around New York. Even if he was, what did Derek have to offer him? The bite? Awkward interrogations from Laura?

 

Derek shook his head as if he could shake his thoughts right out of his head. All that did was make him think of Stiles making a joke about him acting like a dog. He’s never heard Stiles make a dog joke, but he just knew that he would.

 

Laughing at himself for being so ridiculous, Derek moved to go to makeup. He was surprised when instead of her normal glossy lips and perfectly styled hair, Erica’s face was tired looking and pale. Her eyes had circles under them, and her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail.

 

“Don’t ask if I’m okay,” Erica rasped at him.

 

“Okay,” Derek agreed. He didn’t need to rely on words to find out her secrets. When she moved in close to him, he could smell the astringent smell that only came with hospitals and veterinary offices. The tang of medicine that always followed Erica around was stronger.

 

“I had a seizure,” she snapped at him.

 

“I didn’t ask,” Derek said.

 

“You were thinking about it,” Erica accused. “Everybody always does. Even in the big city, I can’t get away from it. I’m always Erica at first. Then one day I’m Erica – the girl who drops to the floor and pisses herself.”

 

“You’re still Erica – the girl with the garish lipstick to me,” Derek offered stiltedly.

 

Erica laughed. “You’re really bad at that.”

 

“I’m more of a fixer than a talker,” Derek lied. He was good at sniffing things, backflips and growing hair, but Erica didn’t need to know that.

 

“Can’t fix me,” she told him.

 

Derek bit his lip. “What if I could?”

 

“Why? You know somebody in on a drug trial?” Erica asked. The interest in her eyes was almost painful to watch. It made something protective in Derek rise up.

 

“I have something better.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Hey, you want to go grab pizza or something?” Stiles asked when they finished. He was rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

 

Derek blinked at him.

 

“Uh, like a date pizza? Not you know casual or friendly or…”

 

“I promised Erica I’d meet her after,” Derek stupidly said.

 

“Erica, right. Of course Erica, good on you,” Stiles said as he turned his back to Derek. “I’m going to kill her,” he muttered to himself.

 

“Not on a date,” Derek told him. His mind raced to try to come up with an excuse that wouldn’t be, “I promised I’d bite her. It’s not as kinky as it sounds!” He settled on, “We’re going shopping. To make her feel better.”

 

“No offense, but you don’t really seem to be the type,” Stiles said as he turned back around to look at him.

 

“Leather jacket shopping. I’m good at that,” Derek said as he awkwardly clutched his black one in his hands.

 

“Yeah? So if I promised to take you leather shopping, you’d be maybe interested?” Stiles suggested.

 

“No. That sounds kinky,” Derek told him.

 

“Oh my god, you are so high maintenance!” Stiles accused, then his eyes widened. “I meant that in a good way! The best kind of way, actually. I like high maintenance. Love it. Thrive on it, in fact.”

 

“Pizza would be good,” Derek let him off the hook. “Just not tonight.”

 

“Great. How about tomorrow night?” Stiles asked.

 

“That’s fine. Why don’t you give me your number,” Derek said as he reached for his phone. It beeped at him as he closed his hand around it.

 

“That’s, uh, me,” Stiles explained nervously. “I sort of stole your phone number from the cast list.”

 

“Isn’t that illegal?” Derek asked.

 

“Let’s just stick with unethical and slightly desperate,” Stiles said. “I may have had several plans for asking you out. Not all of them were good.”

 

“I’m glad I got offered pizza,” Derek said. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he promised as he left.

 

Stiles waved at him and grinned. “You bet!”

 

When the door closed behind him, Derek heard a congratulatory whoop of, “Yes!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

“I have to go, Laura,” Derek growled as he trimmed his stubble in the bathroom mirror.

 

“No, you have to tell me why suddenly there is a new beta in the pack,” Laura argued.

 

“I told you, Erica needed help,” Derek told her.

 

“Hospitals are full of people who need help, Derek. We don’t offer them all the bite.”

 

Derek turned off his electric razor to glare at her. “No. _We_ don’t. Because _I’m_ the alpha, Laura.”

 

Laura crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him. “An alpha who doesn’t listen to his second!”

 

“Newsflash: Sometimes his second is wrong!” Derek yelled back. “You’re the one who sent me out there to socially mingle and look for new pack members.”

 

“To meet other werewolves, omegas tossed out of their packs for stupid reasons or humans who would make good candidates,” Laura countered.

 

Derek shouldered his way past her. He wasn’t surprised when she followed him into his room. “Erica was the good candidate,” he told her as he started rifling through his closet for something to wear.

 

“Was she? You barely know anything about her,” Laura reminded him.

 

Derek sighed. “Well, she’s already bitten, so there isn’t anything you can do about it. Now can we discuss this later? I’ve got to leave in ten minutes.”

 

“Where are you going exactly? To bite more unsuspecting humans?” Laura asked snidely.

 

“If you must know, I have a date,” Derek said. “Which you already would have known if you had listened to me when I came home last night.”

 

Laura frowned even harder than she had been. Derek wondered if her face could handle it. He was the one with the genetics for unhappy facial features. “With who? Erica?” she asked.

 

“Stiles,” Derek informed her, “and before you ask, I didn’t bite Erica for him. Stiles knows nothing about werewolves.”

 

“Are you sure you didn’t do it so that Erica would give you a good word?” Laura asked.

 

“For your information, Stiles asked me out,” Derek told her. “And no. I chose Erica because I chose her. She’s my beta, Laura. Not yours. I need betas that fit me, not you.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“So, this is uncomfortable,” Stiles said after they had both stared at their menus in silence for five minutes.

 

“I’m sorry,” Derek apologized. “I had a fight with my sister.”

 

“No, it’s cool. According to Scott, I mope when we fight. I send passive aggressive texts and listen to country and western music, and somehow that is moping.” Stiles waved his hand in the air with a motion that indicated that he thought Scott was crazy.

 

“You don’t think that’s moping?” Derek asked him.

 

“No. It’s more revenge,” Stiles explained.

 

“With country music?”

 

Stiles grinned. “Yeah, country is full of revenge songs and done-me-wrong songs. It’s perfect for when you’re fighting with friends and family. You should download some and try it out.”

 

Derek couldn’t help the huff of laughter that came out of his lips at Stiles’s explanation. “I haven’t heard that one before.”

 

“Oh, I have a lot of them that you haven’t heard,” Stiles assured him. “So what do you like on your pizza?”

 

“Anything that isn’t sausage,” Derek said.

 

“No sausage?” Stiles sounded amused.

 

“Why is that funny?” Derek asked.

 

“You’re kidding, right? You’re out on a date with another guy, and you don’t like sausage? That isn’t the tiniest bit amusing to you?”

 

Derek smiled. “You have the mind of a twelve-year-old.”

 

“Yet thankfully my license says that I’m over twenty-one, so I’m legal for everything. Except for renting a car or running for president I guess,” Stiles said with a wink that Derek thought was supposed to be flirtatious.

 

Derek winked back, and if the flush on Stiles’s face was any indication, his wink was more successful in its intent. The vague scent of arousal bloomed in the air before Stiles refocused on his menu.

 

“What do you do?” Stiles asked after they ordered. “For a living, I mean. You didn’t complain about finals so either you’re a genius who doesn’t need to worry about tests or you’re independently wealthy or you’ve got a job somewhere. I suppose you could be unemployed, but…”

 

“I’m a perfume tester. I smell scents and test perfumes and judge the quality of raw product,” Derek explained.

 

“Oh, well, I didn’t expect that,” Stiles admitted.

 

“Most people don’t,” Derek said. “It’s not a common profession to begin with. I don’t even make the scents, the chemists do that. I have my degree in business administration.”

 

Stiles took a sip of his water. “But you don’t work in the field?”

 

“I use it to manage my family’s estate,” Derek said. He could hear he uptick in Stiles’s heartbeat as the processed Derek’s words.

 

“So you’ve got a job and are independently wealthy?” Stiles asked. “You’re so out of my league. Man, I didn’t believe it when Scott said I had a type.”

 

“I’m sure you don’t,” Derek assured him. He highly doubted that Stiles had been out dating other werewolves. They weren’t exactly as plentiful as they once were.

 

“Oh believe me, I do. Good looking, aloof, unattainable and apparently rich,” Stiles moaned.

 

Derek was going to pretend that his moan didn’t make him think inappropriate things. It was a first date, and being single for an excessively long period of time did not mean that his dick had the right to take things the wrong way. “I’m not unattainable,” he pointed out. “I’m on a date with you right now.”

 

The words seemed to improve Stiles’s mood. “You’re right,” he said, “and I’m going to show you a great time.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“I’m sorry,” Laura said as soon as Derek walked through the door. It was a quarter after midnight. The apartment was dark save for the glow of the digital clock readouts.

 

“Are you sitting in the dark for a reason?” Derek asked.

 

“The lightbulb burnt out. I was too lazy to get up and turn on another light,” Laura explained.

 

Sometimes, Derek thought that Laura’s laziness was why he ended up becoming the alpha. It certainly wasn’t because of his cheerful personality or his excellent judgment skills.

 

“How was your date?” Laura asked as Derek walked around the sofa she was sitting on to turn on the nearby lamp.

 

“Good,” Derek admitted. “We talked about nothing, then made out on the street outside his apartment building until we got yelled at by pedestrians.”

 

Laura’s eyebrows showed her surprise. “He has an apartment in New York? You didn’t tell me the kid had money.”

 

Derek sighed. “He’s not a kid, Laura. And he doesn’t. The apartment is owned by some person that his father once saved from death or something. He illegally sublets the place along with another guy he barely knows.”

 

“And you like him,” Laura observed.

 

“Yeah,” Derek agreed as he sat down in their leather recliner. “I don’t know why, but I do. Probably his relentless energy.”

 

“That would come in handy in bed,” Laura mused.

 

“Gross, I don’t need to hear my sister talk about sex,” Derek complained.

 

“Fine, so you like him because he puts a spring in your morose step. What are you going to do about it?”

 

Derek stared at the ceiling and admitted, “I don’t know.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stiles went home for Christmas the day after they finished their ridiculous gig as reindeer. That was fine with Derek. It gave him time to work with Erica as she went through her first shift. Their storage shed was a lot worse for wear after her first shift, but it did prove to Laura that Derek hadn’t made the wrong decision about Erica.

 

While she didn’t have control over her shift by the end of it, she impressed Laura with her perseverance. Even though the moon had its sway over her, she kept trying to gain control over it. On the one hand, it was good that Derek’s betas were getting along. On the other hand, it meant that Laura had an ally in Erica.

 

By the time that Stiles came back for spring semester, Derek was ready to lose his mind.

 

“You look rough,” Stiles said as he slid into the chair across the table from Derek.

 

“I made the mistake of introducing Erica to my sister,” Derek said. It was the truth even if it wasn’t the full truth.

 

“I feel like I should be giving you sympathy, but you should’ve known better,” Stiles reminds him.

 

“I think that’s the catch phrase of my life. ‘Derek should have known better.’”

 

“Hey, bright side, you have enough sense to keep me around,” Stiles said with a cheeky smile. “I’m a great catch.”

 

“Are you?” Derek asked back.

 

“Absolutely,” Stiles insisted, “you should come over later and let me show you how great catching me is.”

 

The man at the table behind Stiles gasped, scandalized. The sound brought a smile to Derek’s lips. “That sounds like a great idea,” he said just loud enough to carry over to their eavesdropper.

 

“Now I’m not sure I want lunch,” Stiles said with a lascivious grin.

 

“You want lunch,” Derek told him. “You’ll need your stamina.”

 

The man swore out loud that time and stomped out of the restaurant.

 

“What was his problem?” Stiles asked as he and the other patrons watched the man leave.

 

“I think something disagreed with him,” Derek said with a smirk.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stiles’s bed was smaller than what Derek was used to, but as far as he was concerned, that was a good thing. The more they were pressed against each other, the better.

 

He slid his thigh between Stiles’s legs, and Stiles responded by biting his lip. Derek couldn’t stop the growl from coming out at the action. It didn’t sting long. His healing treated the love bite like it was an injury. But the assertiveness of it appealed to the alpha in Derek.

 

An alpha wanted a strong partner who was able to challenge him or her. There was no way that Stiles would ever be able to physically surpass Derek, even if he got the bite. But his mind was swift and crafty, and his courage stronger than Derek’s. Stiles was, after all, the one to instigate their relationship.

 

“What are you thinking about?” Stiles asked as he backed away to pull his shirt off over his head.

 

“How perfect you are,” Derek told him.

 

Stiles’s eyes widened. Derek supposed it was the sincerity in his tone that did it. They relied more on witty rejoinders than raw emotion.

 

“You have great pecs,” Stiles mumbled out in return as he ran a thumb over Derek’s exposed nipple. “We should get all the way naked,” he said with more enthusiasm.

 

That sounded like a great plan as far as Derek was concerned. He rolled off the bed and shucked his pants as quickly as possible. His dick slapped up against his belly, aching and needy. On the other side of the bed, Stiles wriggled out of his boxers in a dance that would’ve been hilarious in any other situation.

 

Derek did not laugh at the spectacle though. He was distracted by the extra punch of pheromones in the air once Stiles’s clothing was no longer stopping the scent of his arousal from escaping into the air.

 

“Get over here,” Derek rasped as he crawled back onto the bed.

 

Stiles tripped over something as he turned around to join Derek, but Derek didn’t mind. It was easy enough to catch Stiles as he fell. Derek’s muscles easily held his weight and maneuvered him onto his back.

 

“My hero,” Stiles fake swooned.

 

Derek ignored him and placed another kiss on his lips as he settled between Stiles’s legs. Stiles moaned into Derek’s mouth and threaded his fingers into Derek’s hair, pulling on the strands in a way that would’ve gotten anybody else’s hand bitten off. But with Stiles it felt good, so Derek let him tug at his hair and guide their kiss. There were other things he was more interested in.

 

Stiles’s dick was trapped between their stomachs. It felt good to roll against it, to drag his own dick next to it, but Derek wanted more. He wanted to please Stiles better than just giving him a warm body to hump against.

 

So Derek sneaked his hand out to the nightstand as they were kissing. He snagged the bottle of lube that Stiles had placed there when they first started making out. Derek managed to get it back to the bed and flip the cap open before Stiles noticed.

 

“Smooth,” Stiles croaked appreciatively.

 

“I can be,” Derek said as he squirted the liquid into his palm and rubbed it to warm it up. The thought of getting a condom passed his mind, but he wasn’t sure that he had the stamina for penetrative sex. His balls were already starting to throb. There was no way that he could make it.

 

He reached down and wrapped his lubed hand around Stiles’s dick. Stiles moaned and thrust into his touch, and that was it. Derek’s cock started drooling as he stripped Stiles harder and faster. He whimpered along with Stiles when Stiles came.

 

It might have been slightly creepy to watch Stiles’s cock soften and his face as he came back from the high of having an orgasm. Derek didn’t particularly care about that. Not when he could watch all the expressions that crossed Stiles’s face after he made him come. Watching made part of Derek preen with pleasure for causing such a wonderful event. He knew full well that it wasn’t a normal, human reaction. He just didn’t care.

 

“Hey, no,” Stiles complained. “No stiff, uncoming dicks.”

 

Derek laughed and looked down at his own, still hard cock. “You going to help with that?”

 

“Yeah. You bet,” Stiles said as he grabbed the tube of lube and squirted an overly generous amount into his hand. The lube was still cool when he wrapped his hand around Derek’s cock, but it warmed quickly as Stiles started jerking him off.

 

The pressure was great. What was even better was the way that Stiles bit his lip as he concentrated getting Derek off. Having all that focus on him was both unnerving and hot. Derek bucked into his hand as he started getting close.

 

Stiles responded by tightening his grip and pumping Derek’s cock faster. There was a split second where everything seemed suspended in time, then Derek was orgasming, spurting come all over. Some of it landed on the pillows.

 

When he finally felt like he could breathe without jizzing again, Derek noticed that Stiles was staring at him.

 

“Been a long time, huh?” Stiles asked.

 

Derek just nodded. It had been a long time since he’d been with anybody, and he had just about busted a nut when he came. There was evidence all over.

 

“So, is the red eye thing a symptom of that or…” Stiles trailed off.

 

“Red eye?” Derek asked stupidly.

 

“Yeah, I mean, I’m pretty sure your eyes are green. And red isn’t actually a naturally occurring eye color in humans. Unless you’re born with albinism, but you’re obviously not because you have black hair and the carpets match the drapes and some of the wallpaper and…”

 

“I’m a werewolf,” Derek sighed as he collapsed on the bed next to Stiles. It wasn’t like he could convince Stiles that he had popped colored contacts in while they were in the middle of fucking. His eyes never used to change color when he came. It had never occurred to him that he should start masturbating in front of a mirror again after he became an alpha.

 

“So is that why we didn’t do anal? Can your spunk make me a werewolf if you get it inside me?” Stiles asked.

 

Derek turned his head to glare at him. “No! Why would you think that? Why is that even your first question?”

 

“I don’t know! How am I supposed to know that werewolfism isn’t some weird STD?” Stiles defended himself.

 

“It isn’t,” Derek snapped.

 

“Fine! You’re not the one whose boyfriend is a creature of the night. I get to be the one upset,” Stiles scolded him.

 

Derek closed his eyes and swallowed. “I’m sorry. I was…”

 

“You were not going to tell me,” Stiles cut him off. “We haven’t even known each other two full months. I wouldn’t have told me a secret after that short of an amount of time.”

 

“I told Erica,” Derek admitted.

 

“You told Erica before me?!” Stiles sat up and loomed over Derek.

 

“I bit her,” Derek clarified. “It healed her from her epilepsy.”

 

“Oh, well. Okay. Major disease healing is forgivable. I get all the other secrets before her, okay? As long as I’m the boyfriend, I get to hear the important stuff first.”

 

“Are you?” Derek asked.

 

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m your boyfriend. I always wanted to be Batman, but I can settle for dating Wolverine.”

 

Derek rolled his eyes. “I’m not short enough to be Wolverine.”

 

Stiles twisted and flopped down onto Derek. “Now I’m really going to keep you. Talk dirty comic book canon to me.”

 

Derek snorted and pushed him off. “Why don’t we go get cleaned up instead?”

 

“That shower is small,” Stiles told him.

 

Derek grinned, “I think I’ve got the strength for it.”

 

Stiles shot up off the bed and hurried towards the bathroom. “You’d better be right!”

 

Derek followed after him. He was the alpha. He was going to be right and then some.


End file.
